Last year DC comics released the Batman: The Adventures Continue miniseries, an expansion in comic form of the iconic world of Batman: The Animated Series. With a second series of that title is due out digitally in May and in stores in June, DC has announced another digital-first series set in the DC Animated Universe. Justice League Infinity will pick up where the Justice League cartoon left off, adding new characters and dimensions (literally) to the DCAU.
The miniseries will be co-written by JLU producer James Tucker and J.M. DeMatteis, with art by Ethan Beavers and Nick Filardi. No letterer for the series was named in the announcement. Chapters of Justice League Infinity will arrive digitally beginning on May 13th, with physical editions following beginning in July. The first physical issue of the 7-issue miniseries will sport a main cover by Francis Manapul, as well as a variant cover by Scott Hepburn.
Here’s how DC describes the debut issue:
In this debut issue, there is a being wandering the universe searching for its true purpose, but what it finds out on the farthest edges of the cosmos will change not just our universe, but many! Meanwhile, the war for the throne of Apokolips arrives on Earth, and the true ruler will only be decided one way: Who can destroy the Justice League?
Justice League Infinity will apparently focus less on the extended League of JLU and more on the core original seven members of the team — Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl. It’s a bit unclear at what point in the DCAU timeline the series takes place; while preview pages show the evolved, galaxy-travelling version of Amazo as he appeared in JLU, Shayera Hol had renounced the identity of Hawkgirl after the events of the Justice League “Starcrossed” three-parter. Perhaps her taking up of the Thanagarian mantle again will play a role in the new series.
As a huge fan of the DCAU — comprised of Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series, and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited — I have to admit I was a little let down by Batman: The Adventures Continue. The tone of the series seemed to be all over the place, and the shoe-horning of Jason Todd into the DC animated canon — especially after TNBA‘s version of Tim Drake already used key elements from Jason’s history — felt completely unnecessary and convoluted. I also know that series was more or less a tie-in for the DC Collectibles toy line, though, so they were somewhat beholden to the characters being presented in plastic. Hopefully without a toy line to promote, Justice League Infinity will be more free to tell organic stories that build on the established DCAU canon rather than trying to reinvent it.
Check out the aforementioned preview pages, as well as the variant cover by Hepburn, below. Look for the first digital chapter of Justice League Infinity to arrive on Thursday, May 13th, and the first physical issue to land in stores on Tuesday, July 6th.
